Council Provides Helping Hand To Nova Scotia Gaelic Group

Next week, six young musicians involved with Feis Lochabair will be participating in the Celtic Colours international traditional music festival in Nova Scotia. Accompanying them will be Ingrid Henderson, Feis Lochaber Field Officer who is also a musician with Cliar and Catriona Macintyre, Highland Council’s Gaelic Medium Early Education & Childcare Officer.

This visit to Nova Scotia is one of a range of joint initiatives which are part of the ‘Memorandum of Understanding’- an agreement signed between The Highland Council and the Provincial Government of Nova Scotia in 2002. The MOU provides the basis for a variety of cultural initiatives between the two areas.

Councillor Michael Foxley said: "We were so impressed with the Celtic Colours Festival on an exchange visit to Nova Scotia that we decided that we must develop something similar in the Highlands to harness the formidable and growing talent in traditional music that exists in our area. From this we established Blas in the Highlands which had an excellent launch last month."

Following on from Blas, Highland Council has offered to help Nova Scotia and Cape Breton with a revival of the Gaelic language in their area.

Over the last 200 years of Gaelic cultural history, their numbers of Gaelic speakers has declined to 500 and there is currently no Gaelic pre-school provision in the area.

Councillor Foxley has organised for Catriona Macintyre, Highland Council’s Gaelic Medium Early Education & Childcare Officer to work with Frances MacEachan, the Nova Scotia MOU Officer to give taster sessions in Cape Breton next week for parents, grandparents and Gaelic speakers. Catriona will also visit parent and tot groups in Mabou, Inverness and Iona.

As a follow up to Catriona’s visit The Highland Council has offered to send over a nucleus of people to form a Gaelic pre-school unit in Cape Breton in summer, 2006. This project will last for one month and will include teachers and nursery assistants working with children at a location with their accommodation provided by Cape Breton. The team will show and discuss the development of a Gaelic pre-school nursery by example.